A former volunteer police officer has spoken out after being charged with dangerous driving after a crash involving an unlicensed and uninsured drink driver.
The officer, Special Sergeant Martin Webb, 60, was taken to hospital after the crash by the corner of Millers Road and Compton Road, Brighton.
Sussex Police said: “A former Sussex Police volunteer officer has been charged with dangerous driving.
“Ex-Special Sergeant Martin Webb, 60, will appear at Guildford Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday 28 January 2025.
“The charge was authorised by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) following a local force investigation into a collision in Brighton, at the junction of Millers Road and Compton Road, on Sunday 28 April 2024 involving a car and a marked police vehicle.
“The driver of the car was arrested and later convicted of driving over the legal alcohol limit, two counts of driving without valid insurance, two counts of failing to comply with a preliminary test and one count of failing to stop.
“Webb resigned from his position as a Special Police Sergeant in September.”
The former sergeant, who is also a businessman, television presenter and author, had spent nine years as a volunteer officer, working two unpaid shifts a week.
He was full of praise for those he worked alongside but said: “After an incident in April in which a drunk driver speeding through town swerved on to the wrong side of the road and crashed head-on into the marked police car I was driving (deliberately, I thought) I saw the ugly, nasty side of Sussex Police.
“They alienated me, bullied me, called me a liar, offered zero support (despite me getting hurt) and broke a whole raft of their own rules and regulations.
“Over the past eight months, I witnessed first-hand two-tier policing, a complete lack of leadership or common sense and their disregard for what’s in the public good.
“They treated the drunk driver more leniently than they treated me, which is ironic considering that the Chief Constable, Jo Shiner, is the national lead for roads policing.
“But they picked the wrong person to throw under the bus … I don’t need Sussex Police for a reference, salary or pension.
“I’ve got nothing to lose by telling the truth – and I know that the best way to stand up to bullies is to call them out.”
With three medals as well as a chief’s commendation for saving the life of a suicidal man, Webb will go to court with an exemplary record.
He said: “I caught and arrested a paedophile, saved other lives and did whatever I could to make my community a safer place to live.”
He denies dangerous driving and added: “A culture has developed within Sussex Police whereby it feels that if there’s any hint of an offence being committed – which I believe they are entirely wrong about in my case – they will always defer to the court rather than (use) their own common sense to make a decision.
“This is down to the high level of criticism of the police in the past and public perceptions of things being covered up – I get that and, of course, things need to be investigated.
“But things have probably gone too far now and they suspend, sack or prosecute officers for any hint of anything that might embarrass the organisation.
“There is a real fear among officers that they’ll be the next baby thrown out with the proverbial bath water.
“I’ve done nothing wrong and yet I feel like I’ve been treated like a disposable worthless item – and Sussex Police have done absolutely nothing to change that perception.”